Official Luthiers Forum!

Or is it a fixture? I dunno...

Start with a nice flat board


Add a few side supports/guides to keep the radius block crntered






Put fb blank dead centre...


Sand away. Notice the scrap offcuts at each end, to prevent dumping the ends...

Voila! This is a mando board, btw...but a larger version would work for guitars...








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Cool!
If you add some 1/2 inch wide (and about as tall as the finished edge of the fretboard) strips of hardwood against the inside edge of the guide rails and remove 5/8ths inch of sandpaper from the edges of your sanding block it might keep the thickness of the fretboard edges more uniform and also let you know when you are done (when there is wood on wood contact).

I made and used something like this myself. Worked well, about three beers per fingerboard...
I found putting a handle on the sanding block helped me a whole bunch.

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Peter Havriluk

I velcroed my radius block to an inline pneumatic sander. You can get it done in 1/2 a beer that way.

I use a block plane to speed up the process.

Plane the sides a bit, then check the radius with the sanding block.
Repeat until done.

Maybe one beer per, but definitely not a three beer job.

Brilliant Ed, and just in the nick of time. I have a FB laying on my bench ready for a radius.

And my goal for this build is to improve the accuracy of all things related to playability.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Good luck! I found this worked quite well. The parallel on the vertical sides kept things pretty close to symmetrical, but I like the idea of spacers to let you know when it's done...

I have used a similar one for some years. I use tapered wedges, between the rails and the fretboard, to hold the fretboard in the jig.

My way to economize on beers using the jig comes from Sylvan Wells. Run the unradiused fretboard through the thickness sander on a flat carrier board with one edge of the fretboard slightly raised to make a very shallow facet along one side. Then run the fretboard through swapped end for end, to make a similar facet on the other side. This roughly approximates the arched contour you'll be shaping with the radius block. Depending on how accurately you cut the facets, you reduce the time needed to sand in the radius by .843 to 2.6717 beers. Approximately.

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Tim Allen
"Never hurry, never rest."

I'm pretty much the same but with a No. 5 or No. 62, whichever is sharpest at the time. I don't go to the radius block after the plane. Takes maybe 1/2 a beer. I think I might drink slowly.

Wud watched me do it once at our gathering maybe he will chime in with a beer estimate.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Don't generally get on too well with the edged weapons, I find abrasives more in line with my character...

Looks good, Ed.......and three beer with no power tools involved I think I can do. Thanks

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Blue Ring Acoustics
blueringacoustics.ca

No beers in the shop for me...

Me neither, I hack up enough mistakes without help

For me it’s cause it’s not a hobby, it’s my job. I’d look pretty dimly on the electrition or the plumber or the mechanic knocking back a few while on the job...